New York, 12 September 2012 - Today, during the first day of the Fifth Conference of States Parties (COP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (12-14 September) the election for the CRPD Committee has taken place in which 9 of the 18 positions on the CRPD Committee were renewed.
Each candidate had to be presented by a country that is a State Party to the Convention. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is composed of 18 independent experts and in accordance with article 34, paragraph 7, the term of nine of the members elected at the second election (September 2010) will expire on 31 December 2012.
Members are elected for a term of four years by the Conference of States Parties. Committee Members serve in their personal capacity and may be re-elected once if nominated.
The elections were conducted by secret ballot. During the first round of the election, the following candidates got the required absolute majority and were elected as members of the CRPD Committee: Ms. María Soledad Cisternas Reyes (Chile), Ms. Ana Pelaez Narvaez (Spain), Ms. Diane Mulligan (United Kingdom), Ms. Safak Pavey (Turkey), Mr. Monthian Buntan (Thailand), Mr. László Gábor Lovászy (Hungary) and Ms. Silvia Judith Quan Chang (Guatemala).
During the afternoon session, a second round was conducted to elect the final two members, who finally were: Mr. Martin Mwesigwa Babu (Uganda) and Mr. Mohammed Al-Tarawneh (Jordan).
The list of all candidates for the CRPD Committee elections has been posted on the CRPD Committe´s website at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/Elections2012.aspx
IDA had prepared a number of documents related to the nomination process of candidates for the CRPD Committee and contributed to the process of selection of the CRPD Committee through a questionnaire which was sent to all candidates to the CRPD Committee and which was answered by more than half of them. More information on these documents and on the responses to the IDA questionnaire by candidates at: http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/en/conference-of-states-parties
Contact: Stefan Trömel at stromel [at] ida-secretariat.org
IDA Website: http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/en
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